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next on "members nbc saturday," answering to the people. president obama facing tough

questions. how did he handle them? disappearance in the deep south. a woman vanishes while out on a walk. could a cell phone unravel mystery? protests and a curious web page disappearing act. and -- ♪ everybody looking at me now ♪ like who's that chick ♪ got to be from out of town is miley sire recent going sleaze? more questions about whether she's a girl gone wild. good morning, i'm alex witt. we have trouble in the tropics, we'll get to that in just a moment. but first let's turn our attention to the west and the president's personal pitch for health care reform. president obama will address a crowd at 6:15 p.m. eastern today. in his weekly address this morning, he once again criticizes the media for focusing on the disagreements at some town has.

i'm joined by nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd. another and final good morning to you. >> another final good morning to you. >> i'll leave the explanation for the teepee until the end. what questions have resonated the most at thinks meetings? what do you expect we'll see today? >> reporter: well, i think obviously the two questions that seem to catch the president slightly off-guard yesterday was the one about the question from the nra member who was -- seemed to be concerned about how are you going to pay for this? that is one of the big items that comes up time and again when it comes to health care. how do you pay for it? whose taxes will go up? or will it increase the deficit? the president very ready with that answer. the last question that he got, the last tough one he got toward the end was from a health

insurance salesman, who says, why railroad demonizing the industry so much? that one seemed to catch the president slight live off-guard. why? because the fact is in the last few weeks, the message has shifted slightly to beat up a little more on the insurance companies and try to remind folks why they get frustrated with health care. you can't blame the government, it's the insurance industry, so he had to dance around that one and that was probably more difficult for him to dance around. >> compare the bill's progress so far with president clinton's attempt at health reform. has this president's measure broken new ground? >> absolutely. this is much farther along. you know, in 1993 and '94 when president clinton was trying to do this, he didn't even have the chairman of the senate finance committee, the single-most important person you need to get a health care bill done, he didn't have the full support that you had to do health care

now. at that time that was pat money han, the late new york democrat. he was not in favor of tackling health care first at that moment in time. much different now. they already have a bill that probably will get through the house. they've got a bill now that they're working on, trying to get through the senate finance committee, another one through another committee. they're much further long. public opinionwise, it does feel exactly the same. >> okay. what about the tee pee? what's going on? >> hey, this is montana, big sky country. beautiful resort here that the president is staying at. and they've got all sorts -- a very family-friendly resort here, lots of places for kids to enjoy. it's actually where i -- >> that's not where you're staying. >> no, but that's where -- well,

you're right, but that's where i stayed last night, slept in a teepee. >> i did not, discuss really? you're just pulling my leg. but there are places where you can. that's kind of rustic of you, chuck. >> i'm sure they are, but not here. it's hard to imagine a place with the "resort" in its name -- >> nick is saying you are so done with this. bye, chuck todd. >> reporter: bye, see you tomorrow. you can watch the town hall live at 6:15 p.m. eastern. the first named storm of the 2009 atlantic hurricane season is taking shape at this hour. bill karins is tracking ana for us and more. what's the latest? >> as expected we now have two systems. we have ana and now tropical depression number three.

i'm more concerned with tropical depression number three an i am with ana. there's the two systems. the new one is the one the arrow is pointing to on the right side of your screen. worst-case scenario, this is headed due straight for the east coast of the u.s., about seven or eight days from now. we have a long time to watch this. but the forecast past is what gets you interested. it should be a tropical storm in about 12 hours, and all of a sudden the numbers pop up and the circle disappears, this is forecast to be a category 2, five days from now thursday near the virgin islands. so now all of a sudden we're talking a strong hurricane near land. that's why that system has gotten our attention. ana is still a storm, we know what these storms can do. they can trick us, quickly flare up our die down. this one, the new forecast advisory, 11:00 a.m. east coast

takes us toward florida, still. they shifted it further to the south, so it could easily hid puerto rico, and fall apart. there's a lot of question marks. ana is not in a favoritable environment. bill, the next one right behind it, but we'll continue to watch it. our forecasts do take it near puerto rico, so potential the people could deal with ana on tuesday and be looking maybe at a strong hurricane by the time we get to thursday or friday. so a lot to watch in the upcoming week. >> it's hard to-we haven't had much to watch up to this point. for more, tune into the woich on cable. new details in the my air crash in new york. two air traffic controllers have now been suspended for their behavior last saturday. the faa says one of the controllers was on a personal phone call at the time. the associated press says he was

reportedly talking about a dead cat found on the grounds the teterboro airport and the supervisor also wasn't present, he had left to run an errand. here is what the head of the ntsb is saying about it. it's too early to talk about whether atc was a cause and it's inappropriate to do so. >> the faa? >> yes. >> more than 1,000 firefighters battling rages wildfires, the governor's office declaring a state of emergency in hard-hit santa cruz county. micha michael okhu, what are they telling you? >> reporter: we're getting new numbers, and we have julie hutchinson with us from cal fire. i understand the numbers have

changed a bit. >> 6,800 acres. good news is we have 30% containment. we've been hearing it was 0% containment. yesterday we heard 15% and suddenly that's doubled to 30%. does that mean you're getting around the fire? what's the size and containment percentage in perspective? >> if you take the fire and make it a circle and you have 6,800 acres, if you look at it we have 30% of that outside perimeter has a line around it. but for us it's 100% that matters. that's when we have a better chance of knowing that fire won't grow any bigger. it will take us some time. >> what's the big concern today? i was hearing a lot about the fact you would be getting winds. is that still a concern? >> right now overnight we did not get any winds, so everything

is laying in the valuies. there's no smoke column. it's filters out north and south in communities an hour away from here. what we're afraid of is when that wind does surface, which we're anticipating coming off the land and blowing to the ocean we could ge an increase of wind. so we have a lot of uncertainty until that wind blows blowing around. >> could it be fanning toward invite communities that have been evacuated. >> exactly, some of areas even to the west, even where we're standing could potential be at risk. >> somebody like me, you think of a fire as dang are you. for you guys, you talk about them having personalities. does this fire have some personality? >> to personalize this one is the challenges. everything that's going on with the drought situation, with the terrain, with the weather we're having in this area where we're sitting here looking at at the

beach where where we are, it does have a personality. it's telling us we'll be here for a while. >> reporter: it's more than 6,000 acres that it's burned now, 30% containment, good news, but we still have to wait to see what happens later on this afternoon with some of those northerly winds that are expected. >> thank you for that update, michael okwu. still ahead, the power and fury of flooding. incredible video. also ahead, obama family outing that makes a big splash. whitewater rafting providing thrills, but any spills? i did not like suffering from nasal allergy symptoms like congestion. but nasonex relief may i say... bee-utiful! prescription nasonex is proven to help relieve indoor and outdoor nasal allergy symptoms like congestion, runny and itchy nose and sneezing. (announcer) side effects were generally mild and included headache. viral infection, sore throat, nosebleeds and coughing.

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flooding in the southern provinces literally washing homes away from china. it destroyed roads and burst the riverbanks there. according to cctv, china's state-owned news channel, up to 11 people are dead and two are injured, which seems miraculous those numbers, given the destruction we're seeing. a suicide car bombing at nato's military head cars in kabul, afghanistan, in a heavily guarded neighborhood. this blast comes five days before the presidential election in afghanistan. the taliban has claimed responsibility. the militants have warned afghans not to get out and vote. the blast was the first major attack in kabul since february. let's go to politics now. a new report from politico.com, which says democratic party leaders are preparing their most liberal counterparts to accept a deal. i'm joined live from ann kornblut, white house reporter

for "the washington post." anna, good morning. >> good morning. >> do you think a bill ultimately would still represent a victory for the democrats or for president obama? >> i think the white house is prepared to claim that any bill is victory. you know, they have always said they wanted to compromised, they very intentional left it up to congress to work out the details. what i don't know what the vote count would be ultimately or how many liberal democrats they would lose, but if they were able to get it passed, i think they would claim and victory and actually sincerely be happy with it. his town has have been relatively mild compared to some held by members of congress. do you think it's helpful or hurt the president a chance to take on critics? >> such a good question.

my colleague, mike sheer, traveling with the president has a story today about this very question. the white house had really hoped he would be challenged along the same lines as some of the lawmakers out in the country and giving a chance to show off hi diplomatic skills. you know, there's one more today, so there will be one more opportunity for a real, live voters to get up in his face potentially, but on the other hand, the white house has said this has given him a chance to have a serious discussion with people to persuade the people in the room and get good regional coverage, so in new hampshire, montana, and then today in colorado. >> let's check out one of the most heated moments in yesterday's town hall and the president's reaction. take a look. >> we keep getting the bull. that's all we get, is bull. you can't tell us how you're going to pay for this. the only way you're going to get that money is raise our taxes.

that's the only way you can do that. >> i'm happy to answer the question. >> thank you. >> look, you are absolutely right that i can't cover another 46 million people for free. >> you know these tough questions, he was willing to say to whojever was posing the question saying, you're absolutely right. it makes people feel better, but did he actually answer the question? do we have a sense -- are tax raises inevitable? >> it's interesting, this guy -- the questioner that you just showed was a pretty good foil for the president. he was then able to repeat what he had said from the beginning, which is he will raise taxes on people wo earn more than $250,000 if he has to, but not people below that, not the middle class as he's defined it. he said i will pay more, and i can because i can afford it.

the upper-income citizens are not happy about it, but that's not the vast majority of people. he was able to be seen answering a slightly tougher question that is some of the earlier ones. >> anne kornblut, you've always got it covered. thank you very much. >> thank you. on "meet the press" tomorrow, david gregory will talk with dick armey, senator cobu coburn, tom daschle, and our own rachel maddow. check the local listings for the time. rainy weather did not keep the first family from enjoying some fun on friday. they

well, the late owes moves from mylie cyrus have created a firestorm of controversy. she won 11 awards for the teen's choice awards, but her dance number is what generated the headlines, was she dirty dancing or simply doing what she does best, entertain the fans that made her a global superstar. dawnian iayannic, good morning. did her performance cross the line? >> good question. it was a shimmy down the pole, at the very, very short, of course, taken out of context, if you just have that still photo, it does like racy, and let's not

talk about the booty shorts as well. could chef made more choreography choices, sure. do parents want to have this conversation with their young children, but this is a good business move. >> she is 16 years old, made the hints she wants to move on from this branded disneyesque image, does this propel her? >> absolutely. it's a bit to see what the public thinks about it, and her branching out, her as a teenager exploring her sexuality, but of course the public will resist this at every step of the way. we've seen it time and time again with child stars, with hollywood. they said they child stars to be exactly the way they fell in love about them. but they're growing up. >> what is the case is having watched a lot of child stars, they grow up and get in the public eye as they get older, and they go on this wild child

thing. does she seem to be on that path? >> we've been watching her closely, and the other people as well who have gone down that wrong path. miley seems to be going down a pretty good path. she has a solid music career, doing another season of "hannah montana." doing a nicholas sparks' film, but she's still staying in the public life, um like emma watson, who's getting out of the public eye and going to college. >> let's talk about her monetary value, though. she was topped on the list as one of the richest, if not the richest teen, the brand worth a billion. does that kind of power, having the pocketbook behind you, does that mean she can do what she wants? >> not if she wants a viable

career to last into her adulthood. she has a ton of money, but how will the public perceive her down the road? >> i wanted to talk about this other kid, noah lindsey cyrus? looking a little familiar. >> yes, we're seeing this hollywood cycle of child stars being perpetuated. we have the innocent younger sister, which is a big japanese animated film, and miley's little sister is starring in it. she voices this little fish that wants to be a little girl. >> well, good for her. >> one of the jonas brothers is actually voicing the little boy in that film as well. >> are we talking about next generations? >> we are talking next generation of tween stars. >> thank you very much, dawn. and as we go to break, everyone, we'll give you a look right now at the sand and surf -- well, we were going to look at willedwood, new jersey,

but instead we're looking at new york city, kind of hazy, a hot and steamy weekend, a lot of folks hitting the beach. we'll be back on "msnbc saturday." e same, consider this: when a tornado tore through holly, colorado, air life denver took to the air... their night-vision goggles keeping them safe on a perilous flight... and powering those precision goggles--- is the only battery air life trusts: duracell. trusted everywhere. look for new duracell ultra advanced now with even more power to protect.

msnbc is the place for politics. today president obama is head to go grand junction, colorado for a town hall-style meeting on health reform. democrats praise grand junction, because doctors there have agreed to share the cost of treating the poor, but opponents of the president's plan say the symbolism actually works again democrats, because grand junction proves that doctors can treat everyone without government intervention. i'm joined live by analyst pat buchanan and chris kofinis, good morning to the two of you. >> good morning. >> good morning, alex.

>> pat, i want to ask if you think the president can win new support for his plast tonight, or do you think everybody is town hall'd out at this point? >> i think that's a good ceasement, alex. i think what the president is trying to do right now is stop the ham ranging. there's no question about it, the support for health care was very, very high a couple months ago, everybody thought it was going to go through, and now there's real doubts it will go through at all, but i think he's trying to hold onto the support he's got, get through august and september and try to go for what he can get in the first two months after that. that's my guess, and right now this is a holding operation. >> chris, there's this art in today's "the washington post" taking a skeptical look at the town hall meetings. it reads in part -- a population that never tires of being counted.

it's not even clear what we are now dealing with wow. what are these meetings really accomplishing? that was one perspective. >> wow, that person clearly does not like town has. >> i'm thinking. >> listen, if you look back at the history of our country, actually well back to its very founding, the notion of these town has is nothing different. vigorous debate is as american as apple pie, so i kind of disagree with that perspective. that being said, you know, i think the do give a exaggerated sense at least of the -- let's say you're talking about 20 or 30 opponents, so a few thousand people that's somehow reflective

of tens of millions, but they do reflect public opinion. that's not to be critical of the media coverage, i think it's a reality of the process, it works both ways, either it's a challenge for the white house and for president obama to go and do as they did yesterday, hammer in the clear advantage and positives of reform. that works to their benefit. >> alex, let me say, i think there's a -- we are responsible in a way, simply because of the way we cover things. when the president said they share of ruckus, i guess what they have a loop, one after another they angry confrontations, i don't think they're fully representative of all these town has. some are robust. we heard claire mccaskill on "morning joe" she had two hours of folks on the right, folks on the left, a great two hours, so i think the president has a good

point when he says we're not showing the representative sampling of what goes on at the entire town hall meeting. they're more like his than those folks, but i think this, the protesters apparently are winning america, because the polls show that 35% i think of those polled said they agree with the protesters, and 16% said, no, the protester are dead wrong. so the folks in these town hall meetings are winning. >> we brought up that loop, that's what everyone is looking at, just one after another edit of the antagonistic side, but go ahead, chris. >> you know, i don't agree with what pat just said. i mean, here's i think the reality of where we are right now. there's about a third of the country that doesn't support health care reform, they're called republicans. there's a third of the country that supports health care reform, called democrats. there's a third of the country, which is independents, moderates

that aren't clear, they want reform, but they want specifics and clarity. this is the advantage the democrats have and this is why you'll see significant health care reform passed. >> but, chris, hold it. the trouble is, when you get into the independents and the moderates, the president is under water now with that group on health care, whereas before all of those folks with him, some republicans, not all of them, he's steadily losing support. there's no doubt about that from all the polls. i've even seen strong supporters on our network, but they do agree that he's losing support and losing it very rapidly. >> but what i think has happened is when you have people spreading clear falsehoods, it muddies the situation, we all know that was an outright lie. so again i think the challenge ifrlts that's an exaggeration. let me agree with you and say -- >> the challenge is to go out

and make the agreement. >> i agree with you that death panels was way an exaggeration. it's 1233 in the bill, and it's been pulled out. grassley said it's not going to be in the financial committee bill, it won't be in the final bill and i've heard nobody say it will be, so that argument, i know it was exaggeration on both sides, obama helped it when he said i'm not going to pull the plug on granny, but it's gone. so who is winning? >> i think who's winning is the situation right now is the situation has become complex. the protesters have had an impact, but at the end of the day, is there going to be health care reform that's significant, broad in the most dramatic health care reform we've seen in decades? you'll have to agree we'll pass it. who will have won? >> as a journalist, i would say,

chris kofinis says we may be losing, but we're going to win in the end. we shall see. >> no, what i would say is things are complicated, but at the end of the day, it's who wins the game, pat. >> well, you did not say they're winning now, because you can't, because he's losing support. that's why i he's running out to montana, grand junction, all these places, to stop this thing before the wall breaks, as it started to crack with murtha this morning. >> listen, you know as well as i do, when the game is over, the democrats and president obama will have won. >> they will claim victory, i agree with that. >> it will be victory. >> all right. it's all in your interpretation clearly, and it's been fun interpreting the back and forth. >> take is easy, alex. have a good weekend. >> thanks. >> you too. we'll braf the town hall

live at 6:15 eastern. colonial was a majorlander in real estate development, and lent $25 billion in assets. it is expected to cost the fdic's insurance fund $2.8 billion. one of the big winners in the cash for clunkers program, asian car makers. 8 out of ten carried are japanese or south korean vehicles. the toyota corolla is the most popular car bought under the program. the ford focus and escape were the only two domestic programs to crack into the top ten. that is just one part of the economic plan that's working right now. economic reports this week shows more needs to be done to slow

the pace of unemployment and the number of foreclosed homes went up in july. are we really moving away from the recession? matt miller joins me. good morning. >> good morning. >> what are the signs of recovery? >> you see job loss slowing, and that's a good thing. it's a predictor of future performance of the economy, but really this is going to be a slow process out of the recession. we're not going to get out of this by the end of the year. we'll reach 10% unemployment by the end of the year, and we have to look at the big picture this is a huge shift and has to be slowed down before it can be turned around. >> that's real hard for the folks living it day to day. >> and remember in the media we have the really bad stuff for three months and turn around and forget it ever happened, and then there's the middle period

where it will be painful for people. this is really bad. people are losing their jobs, living day to day and live off their credit cards. everyone was living beyond their means, and i think that spells long-term trouble for the economy. >> and the retail sales, they're falling as well, because people are afraid to go out and spend. the back-to-school sales are down considerably. they're expected to lose a fair amount. that's the projection right now. >> if you look at joe main street, what's the problem with that? they want to save their money. they've learned from their mistakes. i want to ask our director to take a look at this. we have the "wall street journal." on the front page here, matt, i know you saw it, suggests that reports parts of europe, and we

are lacking behind here. is this true? and why have they figured it out, moved forward and what's keeping us from doing the same? >> well, i think what you have to look at here in terms of our stimulus is only 25% of the stimulus dollars have actually been spent and most of that will come late this year. cash for clunkers had a massive effect. if you give people free money, they will spend it or they will be incentivized. so you'll see more stimulus dollars coming in, and more debate over. >> from "forbes," matt miller, thank you. it is a car that promises to deliver 230 miles to the gallon. is that a claim we can believe it? and a police officer tass a mom right in front of her kids and now she's fighting back. access to favorite courses

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police in georgia have confirmed that a missing woman's cell phone has been found alongside a road. a man mowing his lawn spotted the phone about three miles away from where kristi cornwell disappeared. she was talking to her boyfriend while walking along the road in blaresville on tuesday. her boyfriend says he heard a scream and then what sounded like a struggle. kristi has not been seen sense. if you have any information, call the georgia bureau of investigation. well, today a new development in the case of a new york mother tasered in front of her children during a routine traffic spot. audra harmon seen here in this dash cam video has filed notice she's suing. she claims she had not been speeding nor talking on the cell phone.

>> i knew that he was lying. i knew that i wasn't speeding. i knew that i wasn't on the cell phone, and i wanted him to show me the tape. >> deputy shawn andrews isn't commenting, but the sheriff's department did have this to say -- . g.i. joe has stormed the box office, and now he's taking to the skies. 300 special-edition paratroopers filled the sky in kansas city, missouri. the special g.i. joes were dropped from the hyatt renal si. it's just the toys, everyone. it's the annual flight of the g.i. joe convention that's now under way. every toy.

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so we're back ear on msnbc saturday. hires a look at the sand and surf, wild wood, new jersey, a picture from before. hot and steamy weekend on the coast. lots of folks seeing the beach. we wanted to give you a snapshot. it is creating a lot of buzz but is it too good to be true? general motors says the new chevrolet volt will get the equivalent of 230 miles a gallon in the city. the volt is designed to go 40 miles an battery power alone. gm says most volt owners would not need a drop of gas for daily driving. the new model is scheduled to make its debut in late 2010. joining me live by phone from detroit is pace pane from "who killed the electric car."

good morning. >> good morning. >> first, the eta released this statement saying it has not tested the volt so therefore cannot claim their claim by gm. what do you think, 230 miles per gallon, is this claim for real? >> i think you could say that was too low, in a sense. what electric mode, you never need gasoline. they could have said it had 50,000 miles per gallon if you wanted to because if you're driving more than -- less than 40 miles a day you're not using any gasoline. so the numbers kind of arbitrary. it does point up the fact that in theory you could hardly ever use gasoline. >> okay. how does the volt stack up against the competition in terms of other electric cars on the market or soon to be on the market? >> the volt is looking good. you know, none of these cars were actually in showrooms yet to buy. i mean, with the exception of the sports car. and -- but we put out for our next film and driven that car and it seems like it's really

solid. we gave general motors a very hard time in our first film, as you know. it's nice to see them back in the game with a very serious electric vehicle. >> we've been hearing, though, chris, we've been hearing about electric cars and all electric vehicles for years. what hasn't that yet come to pass and really get out there on the roads? >> well, the real reason, this is a theme of the film, was just fear of change among those people that make money off of gas cars. electric cars don't need any repair, effectively, so you're kind of challenging the entire auto industry's notion of how they make money on cars, which is maintenance and, you know, tune-ups and oil changes. and, of course, the petroleum industry is not a big fan of electric cars, either. there's all kinds of pushback. the good news this time is these cars are coming back and there's a generational shift in what people want in electric cars. >> how viable do you think the future is of electric cars? when are we going to see it? >> it's really very encouraging.

i would say that by the end of 2010 you will first see the cars start trickling in, 2011, 2012, that's when our revenge of the electric cars film will be finished. i think we'll have a whole new world of cars running into the rurnt world. >> okay. we shall see, writer/director of "who killed the electric car." thanks so much. let's go back to politics now. counting down to the president's live town hall meeting in colorado. you can watch it live at 6:15 p.m. here on msnbc. we have a preview of the president's meeting this even pentagon. i have the staff wrariter with "roll call." you went to arlen specter's town hall meeting. how did things go there? >> i would say, yes, very, very rowdy, very ruckus crowd. not only were they interrupting

arlen specter, they were interrupting each other. very, very angry. that said, two-thirds of the questions article enspecter was asked were overwhelmingly positive. really most of the disruptions came from the back of the room, the protestors. the questions arlen specter got were tough but not that mean. >> here is one of the more heated moments yesterday in the president's town hall meeting. let's listen. >> why is it that you've changed your strategy from talking about health care reform to health insurance reform and decided to vilify the insurance companies. >> okay. that's a fair question. that's a fair question. first of all, you are absolutely right that the insurance companies in some cases have been constructive. my intent is not to vilify insurance companies, if i was vilifying them though we would be doing it to say that private insurance has no place in the health care market, and some people believe that.

i don't believe that. >> how do you grade the president on his town hall so far, the way he's handled these tough questions? >> i give him about a grade of a "b" but i could be grading him on a clinton curve. he's doing a better job than the clintons did in the early '90s when they tried to push through this. i would say it's not that tough. i've heard tougher questions asked of members of congress over the course of the last couple days. >> why do you think that is? do you think it's a general aura of respect the president garners from the population? is it the fact that the secret service is in place? what makes the difference in tenor in the town halls? >> i would agree with you. i think it's the president. i think it's very hard to go on national tv and kind of attack the president. and different way than you go with these members of congress who are all over the country and they have maybe 200 people in a room with them, who are much less afraid to be abrasive and rude and disruptive. >> some say this debate overall

has gotten too intense. one side says republicans are getting too nasty, spreading the falsehoods. others say it's the white house's fault, they lost control of this debate. what's your take on things and why there is seemingly so much more heat with this debate than, say, the economy, more than climate change? what is the difference? >> i think health care is one of the three issues in america which really riles people up. it really makes people angry. it's all about don't touch my body. this is my personal health. i think this, abortion is another one. it's one of the few issues in america that really strikes a chord with people. that's why you see all of these people come to town halls. most of the people i have spoken with have insurance already and they want to make sure they can keep their own insurance with this legislation coming through congress. >> okay, staff writer with "roll call." thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. that is a wrap of our live msnbc news coverage. stay with us with updates and breaking news as it happens.

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